I know that guy!

I did not know that this song could be done with one string, but someone was able to play One with One string. There are a couple times where he layers, primarily since there’s still a lead & rhythm guitar portion to the song. But it appears to be the same string in both instances.

It’s pretty good. It’s not 100% the same, but it’s also not 16% the same, so this guy can do more with one string than Metallica does with 6. I assume that’s how that works, right?

Anyway, you’ve likely heard the song 14 million times already so I don’t need to go into it, so enjoy!

I assume I posted this four years ago. Or eight years ago. Either way, Hammerfall is a fun band, and they have a hell of a time curling in this video for Hearts on Fire. Burning with desire.

You know a sport is hardcore when the athletes are sponsored by Acuvue.

The song has great vocals, like you expect with Hammerfall, and killer vocal harmonizing from time to time. I don’t know what Templars have to do with curling, but I bet they hate hammers or something.

Anyway, this song is great and you should listen to it and enjoy the crazy soaring solos, breakdown, bigass drums, and curling!

Ooh crazy ass late 70’s thrash sorta. Against the Grain’s Cheated Death is raw, fast, and ready to be the soundtrack to many a Trans-Am washings. These guys have only been around since 2009 I guess? But they sound like they catapulted straight from 1978, decked out in denim and those jackets with the fringes & stuff on them.

The song has a great sound, it’s pretty stripped down for the instruments, and the solo is technical without being overly noodly. The vocals mesh perfectly with the sound, though with the addition of lyrics to the video, you can see that they’re kinda… basic? Like maybe he needs a rhyming dictionary or something. Within the framework of the song it works, it just kind of caught me early on.

So if you’re ready to dive into, as Angry Metal Guy calls it, “old-man shit,” give Against the Grain a spin. You won’t be disappointed.

I think I’ve found the soundtrack for this generation’s backyard wrestling videos. No longer will we have to hear the same four Pantera songs, or, if they’re particularly solid metal heads, Soulfly or Sepultura songs.

The song starts with some big drums and a chugga groove, then dives headlong into the type of metal that was somehow popular in the early 2000’s. Not the stuff with the random dude harmonizing on top of the guy rapping, but the stuff with the guy with the voice where you may ask, “Do you smoke cigarettes, or do you eat them?“

All in all, it’s a well put together song, and I can see why people would dig it. Some of my favorite bands sound like they’re from 1986; maybe for others they want to relive lighting a table on fire and powerbombing their friend through it.

I’ve covered a few different Audrey Horne songs over the years; it’s fun hearing throwback metal from time to time, and they do it really well. There’s something great about dueling guitarmonies and vocal harmonizing on choruses that doesn’t happen too often, so it’s fun to hear some new songs featuring it. We can’t listen to Boston all the time. Well. We can. But variety is important in life.

Anyway, Audrey Horne’s got a new album out, Blackout, and This is War is one of the tracks from said album. The song starts with noodly guitar scales, kicks into a bass intro, then drops you into the riff you’ll hear for most of the song. And it’s a killer riff, very Saxon-like.

There’s even a breakdown with a quasi bass solo, which transitions to slow guitar noodling, something you expect to ear out in a wild open expanse. Fits in just as well in a Highwaymen song as it does in this. It then breaks into a killer noodly guitar solo, with dueling soaring riffs and big sounds!

So if you’re feeling like you’re missing on your daily requirement of throwback metal or hard rock, give This is War a spin. It clocks in at about 6 minutes, and doesn’t really have any lulls in it.

Oh shit, fuzzy guitars, bigass drums, and a killer vocalist, all wrapped in a face-melting Sabbath-esque package. Witchcryer is bringing the doom metal heat, and Cry Witch is a killer example of it.

The song starts with a fuzzy guitar intro, before dropping the bass and drum line, rounding out the soundtrack to destructive retribution. The vocals fit so perfectly with the rest of the band; the singer’s got a killer set of pipes, hitting notes well while keeping enough of an raspy edge to give the song that extra punch.

Clocking in at a little over 4 minutes, the song doesn’t overstay its welcome. Which is an unfortunately common occurrence in doom and throwback metal.

It seems like if there’s a song out there, someone’s done a metal cover of it. This time it’s Here Comes the Sun, a happy poppy Beatles tune all metal-ified. What’s wild is some of the progressions with distortion almost sound like they should be a Foo Fighters tune. Maybe that’s why the Foo Fighters are so awesome.

I’m not sure who Leo Moracchioli is, but he seems to be putting together a solid body of cover work. The song does devolve toward the end, but hey why not. Also despite the video being five and a half minutes long, the song’s about 4.

So give it a spin, it’s a weird and interesting addition to the pantheon of “Will it Metal?”

NEW JUDAS PRIEST! They’ve got an album coming out soon, Firepower, and this is the first single released. It’s called Lightning Strike, and while it’s similar to Priest’s more recent fare, it’s a solid rollicking metal anthem ready for arenas across this great earth.

At first blush, it almost sounds like a song that could’ve been on Halford’s solo projects. The main riff sounds chuggy and great, and the drums have a steady groove, and it’d fit perfectly between Cyber World and Locked and Loaded. Halford’s scream is not quite what it used to be, but he’s putting together a body of work that far surpasses most vocalists, and being able to pivot like he has keeps him from sounding like Brian Johnson. The guitar solo is a soaring achievement, noodly and guitarmonized and totally awesome.

Clocking in at three and a half minutes long, it’s the perfect length to feature everything that makes Judas Priest awesome: driving drums, steady riffs, and a metal god at the helm. I’m looking forward to Smarch when the whole album comes out!

Straight out of Seattle, Sanctuary is described as a thrash metal band. I guess they broke up and reformed, because Arise and Purify doesn’t necessarily sound thrashy. In reading the Wikipedia, they broke up in 1992 because of Grunge. That’s a shame.

But the song is pretty solid despite not being as thrashy as thought. The guitars are mad noodly and the vocals have a solid edge, with the complement of echo’y harmonizing on the choruses & such.

Not sure about the “Thing and thing” type chorus, but everything else around it is pretty great. I especially like the driving drums working well with the chuggy guitars, plus the peppering of solos and such.